​Down manager Conor Laverty came into Sunday's game with ‘massive belief’ and is ‘gutted but proud’

“(I have a) bad feeling in my stomach now,” were the first words that came out of his mouth when asked how he felt in the aftermath while Galway manager Padraic Joyce was feeling the polar opposite.

What was hardest to take for Laverty was the feeling that it could have been.

“Sick feeling in your stomach... that periods in that second half that the game was there to be won. We put a lot of work in this week and we knew that taking any team in the country to Newry, we felt we had an opportunity to win it and we definitely didn't think that today was gonna be our last day in the Championship,” he reflected.

“We had massive belief in the talent that we had and the work that we have done. And in the second half there whenever we were in our stride, we thought we were causing them serious problems.”

It was certainly close but fine margins turned out to have huge implications, though every time Galway thought they were up and away, this brilliant battling young Down side came right back at them and recovered from a 10-point half-time deficit to dominate the third quarter. Sadly Galway had an answer but but once again the Mournemen fought back and weren’t beaten until the very end.

“To respond again then was a massive credit to the lads, to keep going and keep plucking away. I’m gutted, but massively proud of them. I'm proud of the group of players.”

Despite playing into a significant breeze in the first half, it was a one-point game before Galway had a 1-9 blitz in the latter stages, and while Laverty did mention Galway’s controversial first goal, he wasn’t hung up on the injustice.

"We probably would have been a wee bit disappointed now that the play wasn't stopped, for their goal, particularly whenever our player [Paddy McCarthy] had to come off with a facial blood injury. It was just a loose arm, nothing in it, accidental, but, whenever there's a player with a serious injury - even when you see the games last night, the amount of times the games stopped just for head injuries and things - I don't think the referees need to be playing on... But I'm not the kind of person to give off to the refs or to cry because I think there's decisions in games, they go to and fro, you get the rub of the green one moment and then it's swings and roundabouts.”

Apart from that however, Galway’s accuracy was stellar with only one wide all match, while Down did make more mistakes.

“There was that spell, I think, in the middle of the second half where there was maybe six shots and only one score,” said Laverty.

“I think that whenever we had our tails up and the wind was in our sails and the crowd was behind us, we probably were moving really, really well, and that maybe just knocked us a wee bit. It left the door open for them just to get maybe a foothold back on it.

“I think we were pressing them, we were winning our kick-outs and the momentum was fully with us and maybe we just didn't utilize our scoring opportunities.”

And the sign of just how much belief Laverty has in his men and the ambitions he has for Down, he said he didn’t take much heart in the performance.

“I wouldn't say that I take heart from it because I have full belief in this Down team. I wasn't coming here today hoping that Down were going to play well. I came here today with a massive belief that these players could perform at this level and that this is the standard that we want to play at.

“That's where this group of young Down players with a serious mindset and a serious desire to compete at the top table, and we would have felt in games all throughout this year that it was maybe just our experience that has held us back slightly in key moments of games.

“But you can't gain the experiences playing and beating teams by seven or eight points and playing against maybe teams of a certain level. You learn experiences by playing against the top teams.

“Listen, there's nights you go home and you know you'd be thinking, ‘Jesus,’ after some of the league defeats this year and then getting relegated and that, and that really hurt, you know.

“I would have a vision of where I want Down to go and what I expect on the climb to dine at the top table.

“We don't talk about winning Sam Maguires, we talk about getting to the top bracket of teams and I think in the top six teams in Ireland, maybe top eight at the moment, could all feel that they could win Sam Maguire."

And with the amount of young emerging talent in Down at the moment, that planned journey is well on the way.

“Odhran Murdock is captain of the team at 22 years of age. Ronan Burns was outstanding and he only turned 20 a couple of months ago. Finn Murdock came on, he's only 21. So with our age profile it’s very good. But again, listen, we can say all them things, but football's a success-driven game as well, so people will want to see success and they'll want to see you progress.

“But I think after the match they're seeing so many Down people out and being proud and shaking your hand, that would do your heart good.”